


Into the West

by jenny_wren



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 02:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenny_wren/pseuds/jenny_wren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atlantis is finally civilized</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the West

**Author's Note:**

> written mid-season 3, presumes Elizabeth remained leader of the Expedition

“Sheppard to Weir.”

Elizabeth Weir sat up groggily and grabbed for her squawking headset.

“This is Weir. Go ahead Colonel.”

“Can you join me in the gateroom to go over the off-world team schedules?”

Elizabeth glanced at her alarm clock and groaned. It was three o’clock in the morning, far too early to be fussing over rosters. She was tempted to tell John to deal with his issues at a more civilized hour, roll over and go back to sleep. But Elizabeth couldn’t quite bring herself to say the words. All of Atlantis was carefully pretending not to notice the fact that John had effectively become redundant. She wasn’t going to be the one to mention the elephant in the room. 

So if John wanted to fuss over the work of his subordinates and act as if he had some authority over them, well, she owed him too much not to play along.

“I’ll be there in five minutes Colonel.”

There was a double click over her headset in reply.

Forcing herself out of her warm bed, she pulled her uniform on over her pyjamas and patted her hair into some sort of order. If John kvetched so long the day shift caught her like this, she was going to kill him.

Walking the down the deserted corridors she was slightly disturbed by how silent the city was. There was always something going on, even at this hour, a security patrol if nothing else. Tonight it was so deathly silent it brought to mind ghost stories about the graveyard shift. Elizabeth shivered in her jacket and tried to damp down the inappropriate thrill of adrenaline curling through her stomach at the thought of an emergency.

It was nonsense of course. If there had been a situation, John would have woken the whole base by now. And really, she was glad that emergencies were no longer an accepted fact of life, but at the same time she missed the excitement of the fight to keep things going against almost insurmountable odds.

She shook her head. If level-headed Lizzie Weir felt a longing for the days when Atlantis hung at the edge of the world by its fingernails, what must it be like for John? That understanding allowed her to resolve to be extra patient while he fussed over a perfectly good duty roster.

Entering the gate room, moving automatically towards her office, she was surprised not to see John skulking near the door. Glancing across to the stargate, she stopped abruptly when she saw the puddlejumper.

Four dark silhouettes stood in front of it. Moving closer so the lights no longer dazzled her eyes, she saw it was John, Teyla, Ronon and Rodney. She was shocked to realise she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen the quartet together. In fact she couldn’t remember the last time one of them had gone through the stargate.

Considering they had been Atlantis’ premier gate team – still were in fact, none of the new teams could match them – it was almost unbelievable. But John and Rodney’s growing responsibilities kept them Atlantis-bound, Teyla had never gelled with another team and Ronon just growled when it was suggested he should work under anybody other than Sheppard.

“John, what’s going on?” she asked cautiously. None of them had moved. They were just standing there with the tense poise of soldiers waiting to swing into action, even Rodney. And when had Rodney become a solider without her noticing?

“John?” she repeated. They weren’t in battle dress though. Teyla and Ronon wore their native gear, Rodney was in plain khaki jacket and pants, John in jeans and leather jacket. The relaxed look though was destroyed by Ronon’s energy weapon, John and Rodney’s thigh holsters and the P-90s John and Teyla had casually slung over their shoulders.

“Elizabeth.” John bobbed his head to her as she hurried down the stairs to gateroom floor. Then he looked across at Rodney.

“Activate Atlantis Shut Down Protocol, authorisation Sheppard-6561. Reactivation in thirty minutes,” he said to Rodney.

The gadget in Rodney’s hand beeped twice. 

“Done,” Rodney said with satisfaction. In the eerie silence Elizabeth could hear doors sliding closed and the clunk of locks kicking in.

“John please,” she took a half a step forwards but faltered seeing his face was so set and grim. “You’re scaring me here. What’s going on?”

He ducked his head and when he lifted it to look her in the eye, he was smiling in that charming, boyish way he had.

“We’re off,” he said.

“Off? Off where?”

“Into the west.” He was really smiling now, his shoulders suddenly free of the slump from too much paperwork, his head high.

Elizabeth tried to say something but it came out as an unintelligible stutter.

“So,” John continued, “uh, I guess this is goodbye. It was a pleasure to work with you.”

“But, but…”

“Sorry to run out on you, but it’s not like you actually need me around anymore, is it?”

“John!” she gasped, appalled. “That’s not true!”

“Give over, Elizabeth. Command of Atlantis was never supposed to mine. Yeah, I didn’t do too bad a job of it in the early days but we both know it’s grown way beyond my capabilities. Merrick and Grovesner are very determined about doing all my work for me.”

“If you give it another six months, SGC will be promoting you to General.”

“Only so Merrick can finally get to full-bird Colonel. Did you think I didn’t know he put off promotion to come to Atlantis?”

“But…”

“Oh, I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to make it to General, but what use is it if it’s not on my own merits? And I haven’t had a promotion on my own merits since I made it to Major.”

“John! No!”

“Elizabeth, I’m not a fool,” he said patiently. “Yeah, Lieutenant-Colonel was nice, so thank you for that, but it’s been made abundantly plain over the last couple of years that they wish they’d called your bluff.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and cursed the short-sighted idiots at the SGC and the Pentagon who had never understood the true measure of Colonel Sheppard.

“I’m sorry John.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I served my purpose but it’s time to move on now. Think of it like the pioneers – when the government caught up with them they just kept moving westward.”

He was still smiling, his eyes bright and focused on the middle-distance. Elizabeth had a horrible feeling he was already lost to her. She put him to one side for the moment and turned her attention to Rodney.

“Surely you don’t want to leave Atlantis?”

“What, give up supervising five hundred cretinous idiots? – Thirty of who are unable to speak even basic English. Gee golly, it’s the stuff childhood dreams are made of.”

“We could change that,” she said hastily, kicking herself for not realising Rodney was unhappy in his present position.

“No, thank you. I’ve stuck with the Colonel this long, I don’t see any reason to stop betting on a good thing. Besides a team stays together, right?”

“Right,” three synchronised voices agreed.

“Though if you were to put Colonel Carter on the table…” he trailed off, grinning mischievously at his three friends.

“McKay,” growled John.

“Nah, it’s all right Colonel. Not even Samantha Carter could pry me away. And how has my life come to this that that’s even true? You’re a bad influence Colonel.”

Rodney didn’t look troubled though. He was bouncing on his toes, eager to be off. In desperation Elizabeth turned to the most stable of the foursome.

“Teyla? What about your people?”

“Uh, well,” said John, “in a week or so I think you’ll find a number of Athosians eager to head on out.”

“They’re leaving?” gasped Elizabeth.

“Yes,” said Teyla bluntly. “Dr. Weir, my people are extremely grateful for everything you have done for us, but it is time we left and stood on our own feet.”

“But, what about the Wraith?”

“We have survived the Wraith without you for many years, Dr. Weir,” Teyla said gently.

“Extend the pioneer metaphor a bit, Elizabeth,” said John, “think of them as Native Americans. I don’t remember hearing that they were keen on being herded into reservations.”

“It’s not like that.”

“They’re stuck on the mainland with no way to get off unless we’re feeling generous, growing us food while we laugh behind our hands at the savages. It strikes me it’s exactly like that.”

“You should know that Colonel Merrick is already speaking of restricting our access to the gate,” said Teyla.

“The son-of-a-bitch thinks the Athosians having an IDC is a security risk and he doesn’t like them interrupting his scheduling,” elaborated John.

“But you must know Colonel Sheppard will never allow him to do that,” said Elizabeth desperately.

“And now we’ve come full-circle,” said John. “We all recognise my position’s a courtesy one. I put too many blocks in Merrick’s way and I’ll be back on Earth before I can turn around.”

“I…” she glanced at Ronon, “There’s not even any point trying with you, is there?”

He shook his head. “I’m with Sheppard.”

“Nothing I say is going to change your minds, is it?”

“Sorry Elizabeth,” said John.

“No, I’m sorry. I’ve let you down. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” said John. “It’s just the way things are.”

“Yeah, it’s okay,” said Rodney. “But you know, if you are feeling guilty, you can make it up to me by promoting Zelenka to Head of Science. He deserves the job and he’ll be good at it. And I’ll never get a better revenge.”

“Done. And I suppose you want me to make Miko his deputy,” she said, knowing how fond Rodney was the diminutive Japanese scientist.

“Uh,” said Rodney, turning to John, “do you want to field this one? I’ve got to get up to the jumper bay since you’re insisting I fly one of the damn things. Goodbye Elizabeth, it was,” he paused. “It was good. So, thank you.”

He put an awkward hand on her arm and sort of vibrated in place. Belatedly, she realised he wanted to hug her but wasn’t sure how to go about it. Quickly, she wrapped both her arms around his waist and drew him into a tight hug.

“Goodbye Rodney, and thank you. Stay safe.”

He pulled away laughing, - “That’s what Sheppard’s for.” - He jogged swiftly up the stairs and disappeared into the jumper bay.

Elizabeth blinked hard and forcibly focused her attention on the previous topic conversation. “So what was all that about?”

“Miko’s coming with us.”

“What!”

John shrugged. “Miko’s coming with us. Quite a few people are actually.”

“How many?”

“Seventy-eight, and twenty Athosians to start with.”

“Seventy-eight!”

“Yeah,” John looked vaguely sheepish. “Sixty-four from the original crew, the rest are second wave. About half and half marines and scientists.” He held out a neatly folded sheet of paper. “Names.”

“Seventy-eight,” she repeated blankly, taking the paper blindly.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I just hadn’t realised so many people were unhappy here.”

“Not unhappy per se. Just…” he made a yearning gesture with one hand.

“Not happy.”

“Something like that. Things change, that’s life.”

“Where will you go?”

“I won’t put you in the position of knowing.”

“Oh. That’s probably best for both of us. But you have, somewhere, right?”

“Do you honestly think Rodney would run away with me if I couldn’t promise him functioning plumbing.”

She laughed, “No I guess not. But how?”

“Haven’t you noticed there are no gate techs or security detail?”

“I… Yes, I had. I thought it was strange.”

“Well, when all they’ll let you play with is the duty rosters it’s fairly easy to set things up the way you want them. Once I had my people in place, we snuck out and did some scouting around. Ronon was gone for days at a time but nobody noticed. Rodney could cover for his scientists. I could pretend to drag my marines off to search Atlantis. If things ever became sticky it was easy enough for Rodney to lock part of the city down. If we wanted to be gone for longer we just said we were visiting the Athosians and they covered for us.”

Elizabeth felt dizzy at the scale of the deception and that John’s Number Two had never noticed the absence of his Commanding Officer. But then she hadn’t noticed either, had she? No wonder John felt dispensable.

“Oh, and tell Merrick that Rodney wiped the DHD records this evening before we called you. Zelenka won’t get anywhere with it.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. We don’t want to cause any trouble for those staying behind.”

“So why call me down?”

“Somebody needs to shut the gate down and put the shield back up. We’ve cleared out the whole nightshift, I’m not going to leave Atlantis defenceless.”

“And why me?”

“I guess I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Thank you.”

“And I wanted to ask a favour.”

“Name it.”

“There’s no hope for me,” he laughed shortly. “Finally gone AWOL, not going to surprise anybody there, but McKay’s a different matter. I know he’ll want to speak to Zelenka again and, really, it would be foolish to cut his brain off from Atlantis. He’s not going to stop figuring things out. I think Ancient Tech to play with is higher on his list than plumbing to be honest.”

Elizabeth nodded quickly. “I’m sure we can figure something out. We’re not just going to stop trading with the Athosians, and you know Atlantis is always willing to trade information for medicines. I’m not sure I can swing bullets though.”

“No, not after all that fuss you made about an uppity Major trading C4.”

“You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?”

“If it was just me I’d have smashed myself up in a jumper, but I’m not going to get one of my team killed doing something stupid. Teyla wouldn’t let me.” He shot a sly grin at his team-mate.

Without ever losing the serene expression on her face, Teyla reached up and whapped him on the back of his head.

“Ow. I think that’s a hint that we should be going. Come on you two, in the jumper.”

Ronon gave her a grave nod then clambered on board. Teyla gripped her shoulders tightly and carefully pressed her forehead to hers.

“It was an honour working with you, Dr. Weir.”

“And you, Teyla. Remember what I said, we will always be willing to trade with the Athosians.”

“I know you always will be.” 

Elizabeth winced at the emphasis but smiled gamely. She would definitely be having a few words with Colonel Merrick once this debacle was over.

Teyla vanished into jumper and then only John was left.

“So this is it,” she said.

“Guess so. Oh, one last thing before I forget, as heads of our departments Rodney and I have officially accepted seventy-eight resignations. Can you make sure the paperwork doesn’t get lost in the shuffle?”

“My God, but you’ve been organised about this.”

“You think I’d risk my men ending up in the brig for going AWOL?” he looked thoroughly insulted.

“No, John. I know you’d never do that.”

“Okay then. That was the other reason we waited six months. The scientists have all worked out their notice and the Marines all turned down re-upping. I had to shuffle paperwork for some of them, but pulling duty in Pegasus gets you a fair amount of leeway. They are all free agents and have a perfect right to wander around the Galaxy if that’s what they want to do.”

“And steal puddlejumpers and P-90s?” she teased.

“I told them I had authorisation.”

It was such a bland, obvious lie, that Elizabeth suddenly remembered there were cameras filming their every word.

“So everyone’s safe except you,” she accused.

John shrugged his shoulders, “Suits me fine.”

“You’re a real piece of work John Sheppard.”

He grinned, “You have no clue how many people have said that to me.”

“I think I have a fair idea.”

“Sheppard!” bellowed Ronon, “You coming or what?”

“Yeah,” he turned to board the jumper, “See you around Elizabeth.”

“Good luck John.”

“You too.”

Then he was on board and the jumper hovering gently in front of the gate. A second jumper, with Rodney at the controls, settled above it. Elizabeth hurried up the stairs to the observation deck. The wormhole opened with its whoosh of brilliant colour and she pretended to herself the sudden brightness was why her eyes were damp.

Her headset clicked and she heard John’s voice.

“Second star on the right and straight on ‘til morning.”

And the jumpers shot through the gate.


End file.
